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Johann Johansson, The Miners’ Hymns

2011 | Label: FatCat Records / SC Distribution

03.06.12 Icelandic composer Johann Johannsson has built a sizable reputation on the basis of his beautiful, haunting scores that combine classical instrumentation (string quartet, brass quintet, string orchestra) with electronics. The Miners' Hymns will not disappoint his fans, and, in fact, the piece's grand finale may leave some wondering what he can possibly do for an encore.

This album is a lush, tonal, brass-heavy soundtrack to the contemporary silent film of the same name by Bill Morrison, whose works usually involve the manipulation of older, "found" footage. (Morrison's Decasia, built from decaying silent film stock with a score by Michael Gordon, is probably his best-known film.) In this case, The Miners' Hymns looks back silently, and with some evident affection, at the… more »

Various Artists, Young Adult: Music from the Motion Picture

12.14.11 The soundtrack to the latest film from director Jason Reitman (Up in the Air, Juno, Thank You For Smoking) defines his central character through the songs she listened to in high school. Although actress Charlize Theron's Mavis Gary may dress like a contemporary woman, she's emotionally stuck in the '90s, when she and her old flame Buddy were prom queen and king. Rather than the Brian Adams/Mariah Carey/Celine Dion power ballads that crowned status might imply, Young Adult is packed with alternative rock classics that shrewdly reflect Mavis's dreams and destructiveness. Beneath the beauty treatments and pro-grade makeup, Mavis is an extraordinarily angry gal: The raging of Veruca Salt's "Seether" and Suicidal Tendencies' "Pledge Your Allegiance" compliments the wistfulness of… more »

Jonsi, We Bought A Zoo (Motion Picture Soundtrack)

2011 | Label: Columbia

12.13.11 When it was first announced that Jonsi Birgisson — the angel-voiced frontman of Icelandic post-rock heart-melters Sigur Ros — was soundtracking the new Cameron Crowe film, the most logical response was, "Hasn't this already happened?" Vanilla Sky, Crowe's overly trippy, underrated 2001 epic, featured three Sigur Ros tracks, all played for widescreen, mind-altering effect. In this new decade, Jonsi and Crowe are both elder statesmen of a similar aesthetic. Both are unabashed maximalists — they want audiences to weep, to feel empowered, to fall in love — whether it be through a swooping falsetto frill or a wide-lens aerial shot of a couple kissing in a rainstorm.

There's plenty of grand emotion here. Several tracks are culled from Jonsi's… more »

Various Artists, The Muppets Original Soundtrack

2011 | Label: Walt Disney Records

12.12.11 Like the late-'70s/early-'80s TV program The Muppet Show, the first Muppet movie in 12 years follows a long tradition of perfectly old-fashioned theatrical entertainments about putting on a musical. Thanks to the superhuman creativity of the late Muppet papa Jim Henson, there's also an additional level of postmodern self-reflexivity to these puppets, one that grapples with their very position between humanity and felt/feathers/fur. Directed by Flight of the Conchords creator James Bobin with songs written and produced by the Conchords' Bret McKenzie, The Muppets miraculously manages to ramp up the meta-ness on a level befitting that New Zealand duo's superior spoof skills while remaining true to Kermit and crew's childlike innocence.

Its soundtrack is recognizably Conchords-esque but recorded on… more »